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EV
Cohort 2022
Dr. Elena Vasquez
ETH Zürich
Structural Engineering→ImmunologyLeap 91
Impact summary
Founded a spin-out, Mechanimmune AG, developing therapeutic targets identified through structural modeling of immune cell mechanics. Series A: CHF 8M.
Background
Elena built computational models of load distribution in bridges and buildings. During her fellowship at ETH's Institute for Molecular Health Sciences, she applied finite element analysis — a standard structural engineering tool — to model how immune cells deform when navigating tissue. The approach revealed mechanical checkpoints in immune activation that biochemical models had missed entirely.
The leap story
“A bridge and an immune cell are both structures that carry load and fail in predictable ways. I just had to convince biologists that the language of statics was worth learning.”